


Glitch in the Matrix

by SkyHighDisco



Category: Men's Football RPF
Genre: And neither could Carvajal, Creepy, Family, Horror, Humor, Isco is that group member who thinks everything is funny, Kroos couldn't give half a shit, Mystery, Not quite a bachelor party, Ramos is getting married, Real Madrid CF, Varane thinks it's not, cryptic, some spooky shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-10-19 11:03:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17600081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyHighDisco/pseuds/SkyHighDisco
Summary: Five members of Real Madrid are on their way to Sergio's wedding reception. Along the way, they may have made the wrong turn, but where it will take them might not be as harmless a problem as it sounds...





	Glitch in the Matrix

**Author's Note:**

> I'm supposed to study. I have my first exam tomorrow. 
> 
> Also, the core of this story has a reference, and there might be some of you who'll recognize it. Couldn't resist writing it, though.

„Great, Frog. You got us lost."

If Raphaël's hands weren't on the wheel and the road didn't curve all the time, his whole arm would've rounded to slap the shit out of Isco. If there was any creature in this Solar System that was more annoying than the Spaniard, then it could only be mythical. Because something as tiring as Isco Alarcón was nonexistent. Why did he agree to bring him along instead of dumping him to go with Marcelo and his group? The years of naiveté were supposed to be a long way behind him, right? Well, one learns on one's mistakes.

„For the tenth time", he seethed through mildly gritted teeth. ˮI'm the driver. _He_ 's the navigator. If you're gonna call shit on someone, he's your man."

Blame shifted over, Lucas frowned at the Frenchman from the passenger seat, finger rummaging over the glitchy GPS map on the screen.

„He said ''the hugest sign you have ever seen''", Lucas fended, annoyed. ˮAnd that sign we passed was bigger than me."

„Of course it was, you're short as hell", Toni said blankly, then barked in surprise when Lucas' hand collided with the top of his head, noticing a slightly envious look Rapha had to point at Vázquez.

„Friendly reminder that I'm the one having to catch your big ass when you decide to celebrate a goal."

Toni frowned, looking more German than usual and translating it three times in his head to see if he heard him right. ˮWhat's that got to do with anything?"

„It doesn't matter, what matters is that we got lost, but Rapha is being stubborn and won't turn around as I said earlier", Isco clipped again.

„Guys, guys, hold your horses, can we just..."

It was Carvajal, the final member of the car squad who hasn't talked much yet but judging by the sigh and the way he rubbed his forehead with, he was far from Isco's laid-back cheeky mood. ˮI hate to be left in the grey zone and like to have my things clear on the paper, otherwise I'm tending to lose my shit, but are we, or are we _not_ lost?"

„We are not lost", Rapha reassured the Spaniard firmly, eyes surveying the road and small visibility the hazards were offering. The night was fresh, and the moon was hanging just above the branches of the woods surrounding the road. ˮIt's not like we're that far from Madrid anyway. Lucas, what's the map say?"

To their ultimate surprise, Lucas mumbled, ˮI'm trying to find out."

This made everyone fall to baffled silence. Dani and Isco exchanged a look and Toni leaned up behind Lucas to look over at his phone with a furrowed brow.

Rapha pierced the silence first. ˮWhat?"

It was that kind of 'what' that promised ass-kicking if the respectful driver didn't get an eloquent answer fast.

However, Lucas kept poking around the phone, shaking his head at the lack of results he was receiving.

„The reception is horrible", he explained. ˮIt's like we're in the middle of Himalaya, and not just outside the biggest metropolis in Spain. Keeps glitching and is constantly teleporting me in the middle of nowhere off the road and back."

„Give me that", Carva's arm shot out like a snake and snatched the phone before Lucas could form a single consonant, furiously tapping across it. Meanwhile, Toni was concernedly eyeing Rapha's knuckles turning white around the steering wheel and his jaw tightening so hard it made a vein protrude along his neck.

„Lucas", the defender managed. ˮAre you telling me I really took us down the wrong exit?"

„It doesn't have to be wrong, the signal is just coming in flashes", Lucas threw his hands in the air. Sweat broke out around the collar of his suit. It was already beginning to adopt an uncomfortable stench after an entire afternoon of being worn at the wedding. ˮZap, and it's gone for a half a minute, and then another millisecond zap again."

„How can this be? I mean Sergio said it's pretty remotely secured, but it can't be so much that it receives practically no signal. We would've been told, right?"

„Here's what I wanna know", Isco took a momentary break from trying to figure out what Dani was doing and shoved his shoulders between front seats, not caring how he crumpled his tuxedo. ˮHas anybody else noticed an excessive lack of passing cars on this road?"

„Hate to say it, but I noticed as well", Toni agreed. ˮSomething doesn't add up."

„And tell me why would anyone in their right mind drive down a road like this at a time like this?" Rapha rationalized, trying to ignore he was starting to sweat as well, even as he only had a bow-tie-decorated white button-up. Being footballers, they were more than used to the smell, and it wasn't hard to ignore it, but for some reason, it was difficult not to notice it in this cramped space.

„Shit", came an abrupt hiss from Carvajal and, after a few more futile taps that threatened to break the screen, handed the phone back to relieved Lucas. ˮInternet's gone. Completely."

„Great. _Now_ what are we gonna say to Sergio? 'Sorry we're late, Varane doesn't know shit.'"

„More like 'Sorry we're late, we were busy attending Isco's very sudden funeral since his big mouth took him to an early grave.'"

„Why, I feel threatened. Why don't you pull over, tough guy, and we'll settle this like- _EEK!_ "

The high-pitched, unmanly-sounding onomatopoeic noise came from Isco's throat and shook the entire car more than something large and fast jumping in front of the SUV's headlights. Rapha's quick defender reflexes slammed his foot on a break, and the tires screeched in harmony with Isco's still echoing scream. Toni swore loudly when the impact was inevitably made, gripping the life out of the _oh shit_ handle. The car jerked and the heads of everybody present on board flew forward. Dani's nose painfully connected with the back of Varane's seat and he provided an additional yelp.

Meanwhile, the trespassing creature struggled to its feet, unharmed as it seemed, and stormed the opposite direction it came from, disappearing into the bushes on the other side of the road.

„Fucking deer", Dani swore, rubbing his nose. Lucas giggled, at first nervously, then flipping it all and letting out a full-out belly laugh, allowing all the collected tension to slip through it unawares.

Kroos immediately noticed the weight lift of remarkable magnitude, like a tensed string being released. But that all evaporated into thin air when a belated realization made him look left bearing an expression of comical disbelief.

Isco eyed him back. ˮWhat?"

„What was _that_?"

„What?"

„Ey, man, I love you and all, but I swear to God, Sara screams more masculine than you."

Isco looked the other way, to Carvajal. ˮYou're gonna tell me it didn't get you?"

„You hear _me_ screaming?"

Rapha rolled his eyes through this tiring bickering and shifted the gear to get the car moving. ˮTurn the radio on on these idiots, _please_."

Lucas did so, immediately figuring his way around the spaceship buttons on the control panel. Quiet music soothed Varane's agitated nerves, and made the lasting silence not so physically cuttable. How had they not thought of this earlier?

They snailed down the road for a little longer before music was suddenly replaced with fuzzy sound of static. What little signal tried penetrating through it was getting swallowed back the same second. Vázquez poked and turned the buttons in similar fashion Dani was treating his phone earlier, but getting the same lack of results. Varane did the obvious for him and turned it off, letting silence in again.

Dani sighed and threw his head back against the headrest. He closed his eyes and wondered why Sergio hadn't just thrown a party somewhere in the city, or even at his house instead of in the middle of nowhere. They would've had an equally good time. But he guessed Pilar had her hand in it most. In her eyes, everything was meant to be perfect. As always.

It was starting to get a little foggy at this point. It was barely noticeable, but now Varane's headlights were touching the smallest hint of a thin veil of mist. Like one moment there wasn't any trace of it, and the second, it was there. Nothing else seemed out of order.

Then, out of the blue, the woods opened up to their left to reveal the first house in what felt like forever. A simple one-story suburban building that disappeared out of view in a short time it got them to pass it by.

„Civilization!" Isco cheered.

„Finally", Carvajal mumbled, arms crossed. ˮHopefully we made it to the main course, if that, and hope Sergio won't be too mad."

When the next house showed up, it officially baffled everyone. It was similar to the previous house, windows completely dark, but in its short driveway was a family van. All its doors and trunk were wide open. The lights and hazards were on, like the car was running. But nobody was inside it. Or around it. Or anywhere near the house for that matter.

Rapha slowed down the car to have a better look. ˮDid they forget to turn the car off before bed?"

„Who goes to sleep at this hour? It's barely eight thirty", Carva remarked acidly.

„Do you think something happened?" Lucas inquired, genuinely concerned, then flinched when Toni's finger shot out before his nose, pointing farther down the road ahead of a still rolling car.

„Guys..." Toni breathed. They all looked.

All the other houses on both sides of the street hosted the same view. Houses completely in dark and cars in the front with all doors open and headlights on. Raphaël will only realize later how he subconsciously noticed all houses looked eerily similar. White in color, similar structure, similar window distribution, similar driveways.

For a minute, nobody talked. Then Isco had to chime in again.

„Silent Hill, anyone?"

„If you don't shut up, I'm kicking you out of the car."

„Oh, c'mon. Raphi can't take a little joke? Are you scared, Raphi?"

„Seriously, shut the hell up, Isco", Toni cut him off, scanning the perimeter. He seemed tense as a wire. ˮSomething's wrong. Where are all the people? This place looks completely empty."

The longer they drove, the more they realized it was true. In various intervals the houses were showing up, at least someone was supposed to be by the car, getting ready to go somewhere. But no. Like in a videogame with bad, lazily-made graphics, every following house showed the same scenario. Some looked extremely unkempt — like they weren't inhabited for decades. No living soul to be found. Not even a stray cat.

„W-we should go back", said Lucas, voice close to shivering no matter how hard he tried to hide it. ˮI agree with Toni. I never saw something like this. Rapha?"

Varane, concentrated on the road like it was covered in spikes to be avoided, didn't appear to have heard him at all. He squinted, focused on something in the distance as he approached the bend in the road.

Suddenly, something massive jumped from behind the stubbly quick fence and ran straight at the car. A choir of sharp yells bolted through the interior as the something nearly collided with the SUV and planted its feet in the middle of the road. Only when it started barking furiously did they realize it was a massive dog. Violent noises rang out in unnatural silence of the outside and perished in the solitude of their integrity. Fearlessly. Cravingly.

The animal was huge, and Isco, who had seen Marcelo's newfoundland Lola, will confirm that this animal was positively bigger than her. A lot bigger. He had never seen a dog this big. In fact, if it chose to jump on the hood, it wouldn't have needed try hard.

But no. It stood there, barking, almost automatically. Drool and foam sprinkled out of its snarling mouth with every bark and the fact that the dog's lenses reflected the lights made its entire appearance all the more horrifying.

That was it. That was the last straw. The balloon of tension finally exploded: everybody started yelling at the same time, but Rapha could feel Lucas' hands hitting his shoulder and high-pitched yelling clear as day.

„Go, go, turn, go. _Go!_ "

He needn't have been told anything. Wordlessly, Rapha made a sharp tire-screeching U-turn that would've normally gather many compliments from Karim, but he barely noticed it now. The Frenchman tugged the knob violently until it reached fifth gear with a hand trembling like it had twenty electrodes on it, each emitting a different amount of pulses. They dashed back to where they came from, engine roaring due to maximum speed. Varane kept checking the review mirror, although he knew no animal could outrun a car going this fast. Normally. There was no sign of the huge dog.

Gradually, the voices lessened and died off until nothing but engine was heard. All five were on edge, like time bombs. With every turn, five pairs of eyes looked at every bush, every window, every car underside, expecting something more menacing than a dog to jump out at them. Even inside the protective shell of the car, air didn't feel right. This whole dead neighborhood was so surreal and impossible that sighs of relief were in order when they finally left it behind in a cloud of dust.

They made it back onto the main road three times faster than it initially took them and realized they've missed the right exit for about two more kilometers ahead. And what a relief it was to see more cars driving past them. Raphaël never thought he would appreciate the traffic.

Nobody said a word for the rest of the ride. Lucas turned the radio on when he was sure it wouldn't screech static. He was sure he would've lost it if it did.

When they finally arrived, the relief they felt was tremendous. They basically stormed into the venue like a pack of raging boars, hearts beating with leftovers of adrenaline.

Casemiro, who was sitting near the door with obvious concern written across his face, jumped at the sight of them and cried out, making the group simultaneously jolt.

„ _You!_ " the Brazilian yelled.

„Hi", Isco greeted, waving sheepishly. ˮSorry we're late. We, uh, kinda got lost."

„What... for... _what- -_ " But Real's no. 14 didn't get to say anything else as Sergio strode towards them out of nowhere followed by the rest of their teammates. Fury and deep concern intertwined across his face into something either comical or frightening. In this instance, they chose latter was more probable.

„Where have you been? _Where have you been?!_ "

Dani threw his hands up in surrender, taken aback by this raging reaction. ˮWoah, I _was_ expecting you to be angry, but not _this_ angry. It's okay. What did we miss? Is the appetizer already over?"

To their surprise, Sergio didn't chastise them or burst into laughter at his well-thought-through show, because that was Sergio. Instead, he grabbed the front of Dani's suit and, before Carvajal got to protest, whipped a furious gaze across all of them.

„Are you out of your mind?! It's past midnight, you morons. I nearly called the fucking police. None of you answered our calls or messages, and we called a hundred times. The reception started _over four hours ago!_ "

Sergio's voice rang across the space filled with tables and chairs. Toni had a chance to notice how empty it looked, and realized most people were already gone. There were only them, the rest of their teammates, and a few party attendants. The party was over for a while now.

Lucas blinked. ˮWhat?"

Isco immediately wheezed a disbelieving laugh. ˮYou're kidding."

„Check your phone", Benzema said, dead serious.

They did. To their utmost horror, it was true. It was seventeen minutes past midnight. And Sergio was right. Their inboxes were flooded with messages and each had at least twenty missed calls.

How was this possible? How hadn't they noticed it earlier? And why were they this late? They couldn't have been driving for more than an hour, hour and a half maximum, even with taking the wrong turn. In between million question marks popping above their heads, one dreadful realization slowly settled in their heads.

Somehow, someway, they lost over four hours.

„Wha..." was all Raphaël could manage.

Isco started wheezing again, then his face crumpled, then he laughed again and started leaking tears freely. He seemed torn between laughing and crying and the combination of the two made him look like a total lunatic. When Marco reached out to hug him, no less surprised than everybody else, he was horrified to find him shaking like a leaf.

Dani retreated back until he hit the wall and slid down on the floor, staring blankly, completely unresponsive to any of his teammates' rapid questions. Lucas rushed to the toilet and Toni seemed keen to rip his hair out of his scalp.

„What the hell happened?" Sergio demanded from Rapha who hadn't moved an inch, now utterly confused. He suddenly forgot to be angry that his friends have left him in the dark and remained 100% worried.

Raphaël mouthed several times, but nothing came out. His rational mind tried to find an explanation. A conclusion. Anything. He was intelligent. He had this extraordinary ability Zidane had always valued, and it was to find a solution for anything, whether it concerned football or something else off the field.

But here he was, completely in the dark now. Nothing was coming up. He had absolutely no explanation of this bizarre occurrence.

The five of them minded not to stay on their own at any moment for the rest of the night, which didn't last much longer. It would sporadically keep bugging them for a long time...


End file.
